Most STEM Majors Don't End Up In STEM Jobs

Although jobs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are often viewed as important for America's future, it turns out that only about 37% of college graduates with degrees in STEM fields actually end up in STEM or STEM-related jobs.

This chart from the Census Bureau shows the proportions of male and female college graduates with degrees in various majors that end up working in a STEM occupation. For most majors, even STEM majors, only a small number of graduates go on to work in STEM jobs:

Probably the most striking result is that, while about half of math, computer, statistics, and engineering majors end up in STEM jobs, only a quarter or fewer of other STEM majors actually go into jobs in their fields. About 26% of physical science majors work in STEM jobs, and just over 7% of social science majors go into the STEM field.

Meanwhile, only a tiny fraction of people with degrees outside of STEM fields go on to work jobs in those fields. There are about 9.1 million college graduates with business degrees — the single most common major in the U.S. — but only about 600,000, or 6.5% of the total group, are in STEM fields. A tiny 1.8% of education majors go on to work in STEM occupations.

This chart shows where people majoring in math, computers, or statistics end up. On the left are the different STEM major groups, and on the right are different occupations. The thickness of each line connecting majors on the left to occupations on the right is proportional to the number of people with degrees in the major who have jobs in each occupation. Orange lines are for STEM jobs; grey lines are for non-STEM jobs: